Is Alcohol Actually Bad for You

Those of us who enjoy the occasional glass of beer or wine would dearly love to believe that we’re doing our bodies a service.

Any study suggesting a glass or two a day can keep the doctor away is greeted with disproportionate enthusiasm by the media and general public. But it is a complex task to determine whether or not alcohol in moderation has health benefits.

It is a complex task to determine whether or not alcohol in moderation has health benefits

One of the earlier studies drawing a link between alcohol consumption and health was performed by the late, great Archie Cochrane; the godfather of evidence-based medicine. In 1979, Cochrane and two colleagues tried to work out what exactly was responsible for the differing rates of death from heart disease across 18 developed countries, including the US, UK and Australia.

Their analysis came up with a clear and significant linkbetween increasing alcohol consumption – specifically of wine – and decreasing rates of ischaemic heart disease (heart disease caused by the build-up of fatty deposits inside the blood vessels supplying the heart).

Citing earlier studies that had found an association between alcohol consumption and lower rates of deaths from heart attack, Cochrane and colleagues suggested that the aromatic and other compounds in alcohol – recently hypothesised to be antioxidants such as plant-based polyphenols – were likely responsible for the benefits, rather than the alcohol itself. In the spirit of evidence-based medicine, they called for an experimental approach to the question.

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Meet the Window Washers That Transform Into Superheroes for

Roger Corcoran has been a window washer for 35 years. But on Wednesday, he was Batman.

The 61-year-old grandfather of two rappelled down the side of Mayo Clinic Children’s Center alongside Spiderman and Superman.

“When a kid wanted to know why I was so old, I told him I played the original batman,” Corcoran said with a chuckle.

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John Carroll, 48, dressed up as Spiderman.

“It’s one thing I look forward to doing all year,” said Carroll, who has worked as a window washer for 15 years.

After rappelling down the side of the building, Carroll and Corcoran went inside to meet the kids, who were appropriately shocked to come face-to-face with their high-flying heroes.

“The first time it happened, I was kinda crying because it means a lot to those kids,” Carroll said.

Carroll and Corcoran work at ISS Facility Services, which washes windows for Mayo Clinic. Charlie Kleber worked with Mayo Clinic to set up the special event, and said he picked some of his best guys to swing down and make the kids smile.

He said he’s watched even the sickest kids come alive when they’re face-to-face with the superheroes.

He called Wednesday’s superhero experience “life-changing,” and said they were all struck by a special patient: 13-year-old Claire Strawman, who in April became the youngest heart-lung patient Mayo Clinic had ever transplanted.

She told them about how she went into lung failure and underwent a transplant in April. She was hospitalized for about seven months before being released a few weeks ago. But she got sick on Monday and needed to come back.

“I got goose bumps right now telling you that story,” Kleber said.

Claire is on immunosuppressant drugs to prevent her from rejecting the new organs, but the drugs also make her more prone to infections. When she got sick, her parents worried and brought her back to the hospital, according to her mom, Ellen Strawman. She was in the pediatric ICU when the superheroes visited.

“Just seeing them put a big smile on her face,” Strawman said, adding that Claire left the hospital today for her home in Bloomington, Minnesota.

“She told us what happened to her and everything. We were all standing around her tearing up,” Carroll said. “That story made you feel so proud to do it for the kids because it means so much to them. It was great.”

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How Scientists and Doctors Use Baby-Friendly Tricks to Study Infants

For all the impressive advancements in medical technology, researchers and scientists still face a daunting challenge when they study the habits of the adorable but uncommunicative subjects called human infants.

In order to study infants without overwhelming them, scientists often try to mask the massive machines needed to view brain activity either by having the child sleep through it or by covering it in kid-friendly decorations. Other researchers have devised decidedly low-tech ways of reading an infant’s interest in a subject, even when they can’t say a single word.

In a study released Monday in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, doctors used a special machine to examine infant brain activity as they start to learn language skills.

Patricia Kuhl, a professor of speech and hearing sciences at University of Washington and the lead author of the study, said the research indicated the area of the infants’ brain that controlled motor skills lit up when they heard certain words. The activity indicated that the infants are trying to mimic adults and speak much earlier before they say their first word.

However, Kuhl said, the study was important because of both the surprising findings and the way researchers were able to get them. To “read” the infant’s brain activity, they used the cutting-edge device called a magnetoencephalograph, that was quiet and nimble enough to read the chaotic world of infants’ brain activity.

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Kuhl said unlike an MRI machine, which is extremely loud and requires a patient to be totally still, the magnetoencephalograph is nearly silent. However the infants still had to be strapped into a chair, so to keep them entertained the researchers were tasked with making silly faces and holding up toys all in the name of science.

“You want them to like the lab,” said Kuhl. “It’s decorated with fish and it’s got little stickies [on it.] It’s ... very baby friendly. We wave toys and we’re very aware and of their curiosity and of their desire to play. We do everything to make them comfortable.”

In a 2013 study published in Psychological Science, researchers used MRI machines to examine baby’s brain activity in response to different stimuli. However, to get the infants into a machine where they could not move, the researchers had the babies go in after they fell asleep naturally. They also used ear coverings so the loud MRI machine didn’t wake the infants.

MRI machines can be so distressing for patients because of claustrophobia or other fears about being in the hospital that a New York Hospital installed a pirate-themed scanner to put children (and some parents) more at ease.

“The genius is in this machine. ... There’s no noise and the baby can listen and can move,” said Kuhl of the magnetoencephalograph. “The ability for the first time to do this kind of recording in this kind of technical advanced machine ... [it’s like] we’re putting [on] a stethoscope.”

Aside from technological advancements, researchers rely on some decidedly low-tech approaches when studying infants.

Fei Xue, a professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley, has done numerous studies examining how infants learn and react to new toys or information. She said researchers have plenty of tricks to keep babies focused on the tasks at hand.

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Cancer Tops List of Surprising Health Problems Tied to Obesity

By now you’ve probably heard thatobesity increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. But you might not know that the extra weight can have other serious health consequences, including cancer.

A new study found that 10 percent of all gallbladder, kidney, liver, and colon cancers could be attributed to excess weight. A whopping 41 percent of uterine cancers were tied to obesity, according to the study published today in The Lancet.

More than 36 percent of Americans are now considered obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An additional 34 percent are considered overweight.

Read on to learn eight surprising effects of obesity.

Cancer

The Lancet study of 5.4 million people found that every 1-point population-wide increase in body mass index or BMI would result in 3,790 additional cancers each year. That’s worrying, considering that the average BMI in the U.S. has risen nearly 2.5 points for men and almost four points for women since 1971, according to a 2013 study.

The National Cancer Institute estimates that obesity contributes to 34,000 new cases of cancer in men and 50,000 in women each year. But if every adult reduced their BMI by 1 percent – a loss of roughly 2.2 pounds – about 100,000 new cases of cancer could be avoided, according to the agency’s website.

Migraines

A study published in the journal Neurology revealed what a real headache carrying extra weight can be.

Johns Hopkins researchers surveyed nearly 4,000 people to find that the higher their body mass index, the greater their chances were of having episodic migraines. Those who were obese were 81 percent more likely to experience at least 14 migraine headaches each month compared to people who were a healthy weight. Obese women over the age of 50 suffered from chronic headaches the most.

Infertility

Overweight women have a harder time getting pregnant. One Indian study of 300 morbidly obese women found that over 90 percent of them developed polycystic ovarian disease, a condition associated with infertility, over a three-year period.

As with cancer, the association between obesity and infertility isn't entirely clear.

"Obesity is an inflammatory state and that alone might decrease fertility," noted Dr. Marc Bessler, director of the Center for Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center. "It may also be the result of hormone changes produced by the fatty tissue."

Bessler said that many of his heavier patients experienced difficulty getting pregnant. And many infertility clinics don't accept female patients with high body mass indexes given their diminished chances of conceiving. However, Bessler said some of his patients become pregnant just months after weight-loss surgery once they had dropped a few pounds.

Premature Birth

For heavier women who do get pregnant, the worries aren't over. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that obesity increases a woman's chance of having a pre-term baby, especially when her body mass index is 35 or higher.

The study's authors speculate that having too much fat may inflame and weaken the uterine and cervical membranes. Whatever the reason, it can have devastating effects. Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death and long-term disabilities.

Sleep Disorders

Sleep and excess weight do not make good bedfellows. Nearly 80 percent of older, obese Americans report having problems with sleep, an American Sleep Foundation survey found.

Poor sleep contributes to a host of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and, ironically, obesity itself. Numerous studies link short sleep to expanding waistlines, including the Harvard Nurses' Study, which found that those who slumbered less than five hours a night were 15 percent more likely to gain weight than those who enjoyed at least seven hours of sleep.

Dr. Donald Hensrud, a nutritionist and preventive medicine expert in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic, said one of the most immediate health dangers for many obese people is sleep apnea, a condition in which a person gasps or stops breathing momentarily while asleep.

"Sleep apnea can be caused by increased fat around the neck area that presses down and closes off the soft tissues of the airways while a person is lying down, especially on his back," Hensrud said. "This means the person does not get good quality sleep, has less oxygen in the blood stream, and the heart has to work harder."

Bullying

Though fat people are often the butt of the joke, obesity stigma is no laughing matter.

A Yale study found that weight is the number one reason people are bullied at any age and those who are bullied have lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression and increased risk of suicide.

The main source of ridicule, according to the Yale researchers: Loved ones.

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Puhl said her studies have found that 67 percent of overweight men and women report being shamed or bullied in the doctor's office. And 50 percent of doctors found that fat patients were "awkward, ugly, weak-willed and unlikely to comply with treatment" while 24 percent of nurses said they were repulsed by their obese patients.

Smaller Wages

Wider waistbands seem to widen the pay gap.

One George Washington University School of Public Health study found a strong connection between greater obesity and shrinking wages. Examining data from the 2004 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the researchers discovered that wages among the obese were $8,666 less for females and $4,772 lower for males compared with their thinner counterparts. In 2008, the researchers found wages were $5,826 less for obese females -- a 14.6 percent penalty over normal-weight females.

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Sandra Lee Highlights Post-Mastectomy Difficulties

Weeks after undergoing a double mastectomy, Sandra Lee was forced to seek further treatment for a complication, shedding light on the difficulties women can face after surgery.

"There was a setback [on Tuesday night] due to what may be an infection post-mastectomy," a rep for Lee told ABC News. "But Sandra is her ever-fighting self."

Details about the complication were not immediately released, but experts say complications can occur in about 2 to 5 percent of women after breast-cancer surgery.

Dr. Julian Kim, division chief of Surgical Oncology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, said overall breast cancer surgery is very safe, but that ever surgery has some risk.

"The things that are common to all of them is infection," Kim said of various breast-cancer surgeries. "Most patients get antibiotics during surgery, and most infections can be treated with oral antibiotics."

He said if a woman has sought reconstructive surgery, an infectious near an implant site might necessitate hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics.

Another common complication of surgery can be fluid build-up.

Kim said to prevent fluid from building up, which can lead to increased risk of infection and other complications, doctors will place drains in the patient to help them heal more quickly.

"You balance between leaving the drain too long and you risk infection versus you leave the drain long enough to make sure all the fluid is [gone,]" he explained.

Occasionally, the drain itself can lead to an infection that requires medication. Kim said early infection will usually involve redness of the skin and that as it progresses it can lead to fever, chills or fatigue.

Complications will usually appear within a few weeks of a procedure, but most are easily treatable. He stressed the surgery is generally safe and people should not be dissuaded from seeking treatment because of fears over complications.

"[No] surgery has a complication rate that is zero," he explained. "People when they go into surgery they need to be informed about what the actual risks are."

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Legionnaires' Disease: What's Being Done to Stop Deadly Outbreak

The worst-ever outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York City has yet to be stopped as health officials today raised the total number of dead to 10 with 100 people infected.

Those who died were older adults with underlying medical conditions, according to city health officials.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier this week that officials had expected cases to wane in upcoming days to weeks, but an increased number of cases have highlighted how difficult it can be to stop a Legionnaires’ outbreak.

The bacterial disease is spread when contaminated water-mist is inhaled. It can be spread through fountains, shower heads or air conditioning cooling units that mist water from the machinery. The New York City Health Department said it has found and tested 17 cooling towers in the area where the outbreak occurred and five tested positive for the bacteria.

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Officials have already cleaned and flushed those cooling towers, but they are continuing to investigate whether there are any other potential sources for infection. De Blasio said this outbreak prompted him to introduce new legislation to cut down on future outbreaks.

In a news conference, he said the legislation would require new inspection standards for buildings with cooling and condensing units. If the bacteria is detected in the units, the building managers will be immediately required to take action or face penalties. If building managers fail to act, the city will step in.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said stopping such outbreaks could be difficult because the Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease is naturally occurring in the environment.

"First of all, Legionnaires’ disease is not a predictable event; it occurs here, there and everywhere," Schaffner said. "Very few [outbreaks] are this large."

The source of the outbreak can also be hard to identify, Schaffner said, because of the difficulty of connecting bacteria found in cooling towers to the people affected by the disease.

ABC News' chief health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser, said he was concerned about statements made by city health officials saying they were confident that one or more of the five cooling towers was the source of the outbreak.

"Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease can be very difficult to sort out. Most people who are exposed don't get sick and the bacteria can travel in mist through the air over large distances," Besser said. "They [health officials] say they are confident that one or more of those cooling towers is the source.

"However, I think it's pretty hard to be certain without matching bacteria from the cooling tower to a patient -- something that has not been possible, or seeing that the number of cases declines. Without that decline, it seems a bit premature to be confident that this is over."

Schaffner said the next few days to weeks will be key to determining whether the source of the outbreak had been stopped or whether people are still presenting with new cases.

"It could [take] time for a diagnosis to be made and information to be reported to health department," Schaffner said. "We’d hope that cases clearly diminish in next week or two."

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Rosetta Probe: What It Has Learned From Year Orbiting Comet 67P

A year after Rosetta first slipped into orbit around comet 67P, the European Space Agency's probe continues to bring back intriguing new images and insights about the behavior and composition of the rubber duck shaped comet.

Rosetta got up close and personal with the comet, which is located somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, one year ago today, after a 10-year chase spanning more than 4 billion miles across the solar system. More history was made when the orbiter helped send the Philae lander to the comet's surface.

While the Philae lander had a tumultuous landing and has had intermittent contact with Earth, Rosetta has continued to send back a treasure trove of scientific data about the speeding comet.

One of the first major finding of the Rosetta space probe upended the theory that water was brought to Earth by comets.

After the formation of Earth some 4.6 billion years ago, one hypothesis is that water would have come after the planet cooled down, likely from collisions with comets and asteroids.

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2nd Colorado Plague Death Reported as Health Officials Warn Residents to Protect Themselves

A second person has died of the plague this summer in Colorado and health officials are warning residents to take steps to guard against contracting the bacterial disease as the weather creates an opportunity for more cases to develop.

Officials from the Pueblo City Council Health Department announced this week the unnamed patient died from to a suspected case of septicemic plague, which leads to a dangerous blood infection. About seven people are diagnosed with a form of the plague in the United States every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Chris Nevin-Woods, medical officer at the Pueblo City Council Health Department, said they've recently seen a rise in zoonotic diseases, or diseases spread by bugs or animals in the area.

"We’re seeing a lot of zoonotic diseases but plague is relatively rare," she said. "Each case is very worrisome."

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The disease is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria and will incubate in a person between two to six days before they show symptoms. There are three kinds of plague: bubonic, which leads to swollen lymph nodes; septicemic, which leads to a blood infection; and pneumatic, which is when the bacteria settle in the blood and cause pneumonia.

Nevin-Woods explained that prairie dogs can become infected with fleas that carry the virus and, eventually, those fleas can spread the disease to other animals or even people in the area.

"They’re everywhere and they have lots of fleas this year [because] we have a cool and very wet summer," she explained.

She said health officials are warning residents not to let their dogs or cats roam outside because the animals can pick up the infected fleas and bring them in the house. Dogs can be especially problematic because they can be asymptomatic and owners can have no idea the fleas they bring back are infected.

Dr. Frank Esper, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said about 80 percent of plague cases are bubonic, which is also the least dangerous form of the disease with death from it extremely rare in the United States.

"The amount of human infections is quite low," Esper said. "That’s not to say that plague itself is eradicated. It follows infections from rodents with the fleas," to pets in the home.

He explained in rare cases a bite from an infected flea will lead to an infection in the blood stream rather than in the lymph nodes. In that case, the septicemia form of the disease can occur, which can cause heart and lung failure as the immune system responds to the bacteria in the blood.

"If it goes to an artery or vein … It gets into the heart and spreads to other places of the body," he said. "Thankfully, it doesn’t happen very often."

Esper said the disease can be treated with antibiotics but that the septicemic form of the disease can work quickly. A vaccine for the disease exists and is given to those who are likely to come in close contact with the disease, such as scientists in a lab or animal-control workers.

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Skilled Article author Pamela Levin

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